BMW 7-series E38 gives first sign of life – From the Old Box

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BMW 7-series E38 gives first sign of life – From the Old BoxBMW 7 Series E38 spyBMW 7 Series E38 spyFacelift Friday: BMW 7 Series (E38)Facelift Friday: BMW 7 Series (E38)

BMW 7 Series E38 spy

AutoWeek regularly presents you with spy photos of new cars and we did that thirty years ago (then only in the magazine). For example, in AutoWeek 16 from 1993 we find the BMW 7-series E38, still largely packaged as its predecessor!

Disguising new models as their predecessors is an old trick. This is evident from the photos that we find in the AutoWeek from exactly thirty years ago. At first glance you seem to see the BMW 7 series of the E32 generation in these photos, but a closer look shows that it concerns its successor. We were aware of that at the time and that is why we took a closer look at this special creation from Bavaria.

BMW had made a nice work of art out of it. The E38 got round headlights without glazing over them and smaller ‘kidneys’ were pressed into the nose to make the front of the car look like that of the E32. At the rear, they even went a little further. Almost the entire rear of the E32 was copied there, while with the L-shaped taillights that continued on the tailgate, it was very different from what it would look like with the E38. A lot of work, but it was worth it, because the E38 would break with the past, especially at the rear, and BMW was happy to keep that a secret for a while.

BMW 7 Series E38 spy

BMW 7 Series

Despite the frantic efforts to keep the E38 chapter closed for a while, we already largely discerned what would happen. At least, when it came to the front. In that respect, the 3-series E36 had already given a nice hint. “The nose of the new 7 Series is more pronounced. As with the 3 Series, the twin headlights will be behind glass fairings; the shape of the bonnet already indicates this. The kidneys are wider and the bumper is in one piece .” The disguise at the back would have done its job more effectively. “The rear is kept straight and flat. As a result, the new 7 Series is very reminiscent of the 5 Series.” Mind you, we were talking about the 5-series of the E34 generation (which also looked quite similar to the older 7-series), so we were still wrong there.

What turned out to be quite correct, is that the new 7-series got bigger. We assumed about 10 cm, which turned out to be 7.5 (as SWB). This was mainly due to a larger wheelbase. It grew more than the total length of the car, so the wheels were placed a bit more on the corners than on the old 7-series and that helped to grow the interior space. After all, the 7-series could use a growth spurt in that area after the appearance of Mercedes’ ‘Cathedral’.

BMW 7 Series E38 spy

BMW 7 Series

Later in 1993, at the IAA in Frankfurt, the curtain went down on the new BMW 7 series and its new butt in particular caused quite a bit of amazement. Secretly it was less traditional than expected, although it would be later thanks to successor Bangle Butt-7 appear to have been the last of the traditionally lined ones.

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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl

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